Backstory: when I was 16, I bought a front-wheel drive, 140 hp, automatic ’93 Infiniti G20. Over the years, I modified the hell out of it: a built SR20DE+T making about 230 WHP on low boost, a 5-speed manual swap, and a ton more.
When all this accident stuff went down, I was 33 and still had the G20. I had always wanted to do an all-wheel drive conversion on it, as the non-US market P10 Nissan Primera T4 came AWD from the factory, but it was such an overly complex and overly expensive proposition to collect all the necessary parts that I never bothered to pursue it.
So, I was scrolling through my Facebook feed on that fateful Thursday and saw a random connection from my Infiniti G20/Nissan Primera groups had posted a photo of a shell… and it was a ’92 Nissan Primera T4… and it was already in the US… and it was for sale!!! After I confirmed it had most of the parts I’d need (axles, driveshaft, rear suspension, various odds and ends, etc.) I drunkenly messaged him an offer on it, he accepted, and I immediately dropped the cash in his PayPal account.
In less than 15 minutes total, I had made a very good very bad decision. I quickly realized, though, that the car was located in Washington state and I was in Georgia. Yeah, it cost more to ship the shell to me than it did to buy it, but at least I had a plethora of parts to finally make my teenage dreams come true!
My husband was working on Project SC300 with Tom Stumpf that day, and that evening when he came home and we talked, I told him that I had bought a car. He, of course, assumed I meant a replacement for the Miata… Hahaha NOPE!! I told him what had transpired, and he was incredibly supportive. He knows I’ve wanted to do this swap for years, and I was grateful that he didn’t tell me I was a moron. ‘Cause I kinda am. [Erik’s note: She is not a moron. She’s not turning an SC300 into a race car. You all know who the dumber-er one is.]
A few weeks later, the T4 shell arrived. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with it, or how I was going to actually make everything happen.
I was talking to my husband and commented about how I ‘just want to write the checks and enjoy the finished product and let someone else deal with the headaches of figuring it out’ and he – either generously or stupidly, probably both – commented how he loves the process of doing exactly that.
Without realizing what he was getting into, he got voluntold for the job and we began the process of me being the first (known) idiot in the history of the world to convert a FWD Primera to AWD instead of just doing things the smart/easy way and starting with the AWD to begin with.
The first task was finding a shop that would be willing to do the work. After asking around and chasing down several leads, we found a place about an hour away that agreed to take on my project and I had the shell shipped over to them.
22 comments
I spent a lot of time on G20.net back in the day when I had my P10. Somehow even among all those Primera enthusiasts I never learned about an AWD P10. This checks a lot of boxes for me being out in Colorado, will be following this closely because I might just have to copy you.
What was your username on Gnet? I was SR20DETg20girl. Small word. And I highly recommend NOT following me… just buy a T4 to start with and save yourself the headaches/cash. 😉
Very cool project and I’m excited to see where the build goes from here!
Thanks for reading and the kind words, Andy! 🙂
OMG. I have to check with my friend as that actually might have been his old Z4M. did it have chrome wheels when you bought it?
No, it had the factory M wheels. It belonged to an older gentleman, even though it came from a dealership I have his name and info. Woulda been a cool “small world” story if not, though!
OI!
Where is Part II?! I read this with much interest and then… cliff hanger!
I can’t wait to read more about yr G20 so hurry up! 😀
I can’t wait to read more, too! 😂 Hopefully we can get another update posted soon… the shop that has the car now had made some good progress (rear end in, etc) but then Covid came and shut down the supply chain so things have been on hold yet again. Supposedly they’re starting work on it again in the next couple weeks. Fingers crossed!
Start a collection- get a GTi-R next 😊
As tempting as that is… no. 😄 I’ve already got a RWD N/A car and a (soon to be) AWD turbo car both for road racing so I’m thinking now I need a supercharged drag car… *evil laugh*
If anyone else has poor decision skills, my wrecked T4 is for sale.
Thank you for posting this while I was sober. 😉
Still got it? I’m slightly insane and want to build an AWD P10
Nice build, i was lucky to buy an original T4 eGT saloon from the netherlands. One day i hope to do an sr20det build aswell. So far away and the same passion for a p10, great!!!
Wrecked p10+t25, lost to the impound. Think my license was in there too. Post updates soon please! Been holding my breath for like a year, not because the police showed up doing breathalyzers though.
I know the guy you bought the wrecked T4 from, A good friend of mine was literally flying to Washington from Florida to buy it and while on the plane the car got rear ended. I was so heartbroken over that. That car was absolutely beautiful, I have some pictures of it before it was destroyed, if you want them.
I can’t wait to see more, as I have a P10 GT (I’m in France) ans would like to do an AWD+turbo conversion on it, and I found absolutely no infos on what mods are required to get the tranny on 🤔
The GTI-R Pulsar transaxle will bolt to an SR20DET block, with some caveats —
1) The AWD block is actually thinner in some parts than the FF block. This helps accommodate where the GTI-R transaxle goes “around” the block.
2) An FR block cannot be used
3) An FF block can be shaved/cut/rewelded in order to fit the transaxle. The casting is mostly the same, except where it isn’t. A quality/skilled welder can handle this block modification.
I am backed up on articles, and the project is a bit stalled. However, I am HOPING to write another segment soon that details some of the transmission-y bits.
This is a super cool project. It’s been over 3 years. The people demand an update!
(Unless the update is “project abandoned”, in which case please let me live with my delusional fantasy of AWD turbocharged P10s in Noeth America in peace…)
Update please